Blue Eyes
by Fallen Ark Angel
Summary: Laxus says he likes Mirajane's eyes. Mira knows what he really means. Even if he doesn't quite... - One-shot.


"I really love your eyes."

Mirajane made a face at the man seated across from her. It was hardly the first time, after all, that a man had said this to her (and she ventured it would be far from the last), but it was certainly odd timing.

"That's more of a pickup line, Lax," she remarked as her bright blues drifted away from the man and back down to her meager breakfast. "Kind of wasted here, no?"

He only continued to stare at her though, the man did, quite heavily in fact. Shaking his head slightly, he replied back simply, "No."

Summertime had finally faded completely from the area only the previous week and though a crispness had entered the air, it hardly constituted for heaters or fireplaces. Still, in the early morning hours, such as the two S-Class wizards found themselves then, it could be downright freezing at times. Mirajane felt a particular chill run through her body about then, which was hardly a concern, as she only shrugged on Laxus' fuzzy coat from where it rested on the back of her chair.

Snuggling into it, she raised her eyes to meet the slayer's once more, though this time it was with slight confusion.

"No?" she repeated to which he merely shook his head again.

"I'm not telling you because I want to sleep with you," he said. "I'm telling you because it's the truth."

"And you're just such a truthful person, huh?"

"I'm not a liar," he told her honestly and, nodding some, Mira had to agree.

Still mostly pushing her toast around the plate, Mirajane wanted to find something for them to talk about that morning. Anything. It was why Laxus woke up so early. It was her who had to open the guild each morning which required getting down to the hall before sunrise. Usually, when she slept over, it meant leaving the snoozing dragon behind.

But he was going to be heading out on a rather lengthy S-Class in the morning, which probably meant he should get some extra winks where he could yet there he was, seated across from her, trying hard to squeeze in any together time they were allowed.

Mirajane made him the biggest breakfast she could, but Laxus seemed to hardly touch his own as well, poking at his eggs and continually cutting his pancakes smaller and smaller. That is, he was before his statement over her eyes. It was the first thing either of them said in a couple of minutes and though Mirajane found it a bit odd, it made her smile at least, give the idle conversation.

"It's the color," Laxus was going on then with a bit of a shrug. "They're so bright and blue and… I just… When I think of you, I mean, I think of a lot of things, I guess, but the first picture that comes to my mind is your eyes."

"Really?" Cocking her head to the side then, she questioned, "It's not my hair? I think it's probably more unique than my eyes."

"Not the way I see it."

It made her jump some, at first, when he shifted forwards in his seat to brush a few fingers over her cheek. Her pale skin had a slight blush to it and even though she was currently wearing the same scanty nightwear she'd gone to bed in, it was his coat dangling from her shoulders paired with her coy smile that brought a grin to his own lips.

Staring deeply into her eyes, he stayed suspended for a moment, leaning over the table, as he told her, "It reminds me of the sky. Not on a clear, sunny day or anything, but that kind of dark blue sky you get, before the sun comes up. And the stars are kinda fading and twinkling, I guess. I'm up a lot then, when I'm out on jobs. When I'm campin' and all. When I stare up at it, I just… I'll miss you. Demon. While I'm gone."

Words were lost from the woman for a moment as her boyfriend reclaimed his sit and she shifted in her own then, though it was further back, away from him, to study his face. She expected to find a trace of embarrassment or perhaps even some residuals from his beers the prior night, but he only stared right back at her, sober and unapologetic towards her very open proclamation.

It was so hard sometimes. Everything. About their relationship. The man was just so hard to get close to. Laxus had a better disposition in those days, rare to find anger towards his guild mates and much more likely to assist in the frequent mishaps that befell Fairy Tail, but that hardly meant that he was a friendly fellow. He was reserved and truly only considered the Thunder Legion as friends, and even then, at times it felt like he kept them at arms length.

But there was glimpses. Always. For Mirajane. Of what he could be, who he really was, and she always expected it to shine through eventually. The man she knew he was. He could be. When he didn't feel like he was forcing himself to lower his prowess down a few pegs, to benefit those around him.

Still, a rarer time existed where the intimacy she could expect wasn't just a soft grin or a sudden nuzzle of the head late at night. Sometimes he would just be honest with her. Open. Rather than silent. Just letting her fill the dead air with her admitted senseless ramblings.

Sometimes, he liked to tell her about his mother. How she'd sing him to sleep each night, when he was a boy, and he could hardly remember the tunes now, not the words or the tone, but the feeling it brought him… Following her passing, he'd never experienced that feeling again.

Or about his adventures. Out in the world she'd rejected for the Fairy Tail guildhall walls. Not the bastardized versions he liked to boast about, when he was drunk and dunking on all the other lowlies at the hall. No. He told her about the first time he'd left Fiore when he was sixteen or how miserable it was, being stuck on a pirate ship, trying to stop a mutiny. He spoke highly of the wines on the other end of the coast and the cigars in Veronica. Sometimes he lamented being gone so much, missing out on developing deeper connections and instead spending so much time alone. Others it was all he could brag, the solitude and deeper introspection this provided.

But on the rarest of occasions, like she'd just experienced, it seemed as if something would just come over him and he'd have to make sure, of all the things they were so certain and comfortable with in their long stretches of silences. He wanted Mirajane to know it, without any doubt, that no matter how far he traveled or what might stand between them, the past two years with her had meant the world to him.

Even if it was difficult to accurately verbalize.

Smiling softly in the early morning haze, Mirajane finally lifted her toast to her mouth. Though, before she took a bit, she nodded her head and smiled brightly at the slayer, who seemed only slightly confused by her response.

"Yeah, dragon," she said, enjoying the final moments her shoulders would be warmed by his fluffy coat, before it accompanied him far, far from home. "I love you too."


End file.
